HC takes suo motu note of Mukherjee Nagar fire, demands report

Delhi High Court takes suo motu cognisance of a fire that broke out at a coaching centre in Mukherjee Nagar and directs authorities to examine the safety status of coaching institutes in the city. Students of the institute were seen climbing down using ropes to escape.

The Delhi high court on Friday took suo motu cognisance of the fire that broke out at a coaching centre in north Delhi’s Mukherjee Nagar area on Thursday and asked the authorities to examine the safety status of such institutes in the city.

Coaching centres in the Mukherjee Nagar area where a four-strorey building caught fire on Thursday. (Sanchit Khanna/HT Photo)

A bench of justices Jasmeet Singh and Vikas Mahajan took note of a news report of the incident which saw students of the coaching institute smash windows and climb down using ropes in desperate attempts to escape. Issuing notice in the matter, the bench asked the Delhi Fire Services (DFS) to examine the fire safety certificate of all coaching centres in the Capital and asked it, as well as the Delhi Police, to state its stand.

Similarly, it also asked the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) to look into the sanctioned building plans of such establishments.

“Issue notice...counsel for Delhi Police and Delhi Fire Services will place their respective stands within two weeks from today,” the court said.

Delhi government standing counsel Santosh Kumar Tripathi said the safety of students cannot be compromised. The state government was also represented by advocate Rishikesh Kumar.

The court directed that the matter be listed before a bench headed by the high court chief justice on July 3 for further directions.

In the fire incident, a few students suffered minor injuries while climbing down the building using ropes. A preliminary inquiry suggested that the fire started from an electricity meter board in the five-storey building, officials said.

According to the police, around 250 students were attending classes at the building, Bhandari House, at the time of the incident.

The panic-stricken students were seen climbing down from the top floor of the building with the help of ropes as smoke billowed out of the windows.

Ropes on the other side of the building were also used by the students to come out of the premises. Some of them were seen throwing down their bags and helping one another.

Mukherjee Nagar is a coaching hub for government job aspirants.